Videoage International October 2017

50 October 2017 V I D E O A G E Atlantis Communications Corporation. After the merger, he left the corporation to establish Serendipity Point Films, his own independent production company. Today Serendipity is doing well and Lantos has well-receivedfeaturemoviestohiscreditashetells the stories he feels need to be told. His extensive filmography includes Eastern Promises, Fugitive Pieces , and The Sweet Hereafter . Serendipity Point is developing Michael Ondaatje’s novel In the Skin of a Lion for the big screen Lookingbackathiswork life, Lantos commented, “My career arc is circular in shape. I began as an independent filmmaker. Almost without realizing it, I built a media conglomerate and took it public. Then I sold it, so I could be a storyteller again. Which is what I will continue to be.” Michael McMillan co-founded Atlantis Films in1978, afilmandtelevisionproductionhouse,until in1993 it launched its first channel, LifeNetwork. In 1998, Atlantis acquired Alliance Communications and became Alliance Atlantis. Under McMillan’s leadership, the company operated a mixed bag of 13 Canadian specialty channels. In 2007, McMillan sold Alliance Atlantis and retired. In February 2014 he told The Globe and Mail newspaper “I thought that I wouldn’t be back, But after three or four years, I began to admit to myself that I missed the cut and thrust of business. And the testosterone of business. The fun.” So, McMillan launched Blue Ant Media in 2011. It is a privately-held international media company that owns and operates 10 media brands including Cottage Life, Love Nature, and Smithsonian Channel Canada. It creates much of its own content anddistributes it worldwide. The company also owns Omnia Media, a YouTube network, and Choice TV, a broadcast channel in New Zealand. This past May it rebranded its music channel AUX to A.Side, aiming to make it a major music content destination; it announced its U.K.-based production studio Antenna Pictures is readying its first original documentary; and it acquired David Haslingden’s Racat Group, which includes ZooMoo Networks, Australia’s Northern Pictures and NHNZ of New Zealand. While Blue Ant may be a smaller enterprise than some in his past experience, Michael points out that niche channels are designed to appeal to small but passionate communities. He continued in the Globe article: “If you believe in the digital world, as I do, then you can have amuch narrower audience, driven farther and wider, instead of trying to appeal to everybody in one place.” Jay Switzer , a veteran of the Canadian media industry for over two decades, is now co-founder and chairman of Hollywood Suite Inc., a bouquet of specialty channels carrying program inventory from Warner Films, MGM Channel, Sony Movie Channel and AXN Movies. Switzer brings to this endeavor his past experience in the specialty channel business: As President and Chief Executive Officer of Chum Ltd he was involved in the development and launch of Chum’s specialty channels. After Chum was sold to CTV in 2007, Switzer maintained his interest in the media business, for instance, joining the board of Shaftesbury Films. Buthe sawotheropportunities inthemarketplace. Given that the traditional broadcasters were not broadcasting theatrical movies, and the channels that did were doing so on a hodgepodge basis, Switzer and his team successfully approached some major movie studios about consolidating their inventories, and acquired some major licenses and long-term high-quality supply deals. Hollywood Suite was launched in November 2011, offering classic and contemporary films programmed by decade in high definition and commercial-free. “Although these are challenging times in general for television networks in Canada,” said Switzer recently, “we have enjoyed unprecedented growth in the past eight months. Our four movie channels and our on-demand and Hollywood Suite GO app have enjoyed record subscriber growth and usage. We are in a strong position to grow and evolve as the content landscape continues to change.” Moses Znaimer is an internationally- renowned Canadian broadcaster and media pioneer, the creative force during his tenure at ChumLtd behind its 20 iconic Canadian television outlets, including CityTV and MuchMusic. He exited from Chum in April 2003. Always attracting media attention, he was in the forefront once again when in February 2008 he introduced his “A New Vision of Aging” mantra, aimed at Canada’s 15.3 million people aged 45- plus, the demographic he feels such a strong need to serve. He called them “Zoomers” and that year launched a multi-platform organization uniquely devoted to their interests and needs: ZoomerMedia Ltd. Znaimer is its CEO and also the president of CARP, Canada’s largest advocacy association for Canadians as they age. ZoomerMedia has grown to include a magazine, conferences and other genre- related off-shoots including speciality television with the acquisitionof VisionTV, ananalog specialty channel airing multi-faith, multicultural and family-oriented entertainment programming, and One: Body Mind, Spirit Love, offering programs such as yoga, nutrition, and alternative medicine. Zoomermedia also owns two over-the-air television stations and two radio stations. “While we’re putting significant investment behind various digital initiatives and extensions of our legacy products,” Znaimer said, “it’s still the utter simplicity and reliability of radio, TV and print that is a beacon of light for the Canadian Zoomer demographic, which now, for the first time in history, outnumbers people 16 and under.” Canada’s TV Pioneers (Continued from Page 48) Moses Znaimer Robert Lantos Michael Donovan Jay Switzer Michael Hirsh